Socceroos switch focus to Jordan

Saitama has been put to one side and now the Qantas Socceroos total focus is on how to get the better of Jordan on Tuesday evening.

Saitama's sensational showing has been put to one side and now the Qantas Socceroos total focus is on how to get the better of Jordan on Tuesday evening.

Australia and Jordan have met just once at senior international level
and on that occasion the Qantas Socceroos couldn't find the formula to
trump their rivals from the Gulf.

Jordan's 2-1 triumph in Amman last September still stings the players
that were involved, but has provided them with the nous to respond
with a solid performance at Docklands Stadium on Tuesday.

"We obviously had a very tough time against them, in Jordan," said
defender Luke Wilkshire.

"But now we're on our turf and it's all to play for so we're looking
forward to this one.

"It was difficult (in Amman), it's hard sometimes to put your finger
on things, we had a couple of early opportunities which we didn't take
and got punished for it.

"We created enough chances to get a result there but in football, you
don't take your chances you tend to find that you get done with a
sucker punch and that's what happened that night."

Much of the talk amongst Melbourne's media in the lead up to Tuesday's
clash has speculated that Jordan will deploy the same time-wasting
tactics that Oman frustrated the Qantas Socceroos with in Sydney two
months ago.

But beyond gamesmanship, there is plenty of quality in Jordan's ranks,
headlined by striker Odai Al-Saify, who was the protagonist behind
each of Jordan's goals at the King Abdullah Stadium last year.

Young striker Hamza Al-Dardour is coming off a prolific season where
he netted ten times for struggling Najran in Saudi Arabia's tough Pro
League, the same competition where veteran midfielder Shadi Abu
Hash'hash was a regular with champion team Al-Fateh.

The majority of Jordan's line up plays its domestic football at home
or in neighboring Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while in the UAE, defender
Anas Bani Yaseen was on the receiving end of an Alex Brosque strike in
the UAE Pro-League, when Brosque's Al Ain trumped Yaseen's Al Dhafra
3-0 in February.

"I think (in Amman), we didn't take our opportunities early on, when
we had them," said goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

"Then, we got exposed a couple of times, we got caught out of position
a couple of times, I thought we lost our discipline a little bit and
we conceded two very poor goals from our point of view.

"In saying that, even though we had a poor performance I think we
should have got a result out of the game.

"One thing you can always say about the Qantas Socceroos is that we
never stopped trying and we kept pushing until the very last seconds
of the game and unfortunately we didn't do enough on the night to get
a result."

Jordan warmed up for Tuesday's match with a 1-0 win over a largely
home-based New Zealand XI in Auckland and with two games to play in
this qualification stage are as good a chance as any to qualify for
Brazil.

"We all know with the big prize, which is the FIFA World Cup, teams
aren't going to lay down," said midfielder Mile Jedinak.

"You're going to have to show everybody respect and also, they're a good team.

"You don't take anyone too lightly, it's shown, it's gone right down
to the wire and hopefully come Tuesday week - first of all Tuesday -
it'll all be behind us."

The Qantas Socceroos will conclude the current stage of Asian qualifiers upon their return home, firstly to face Jordan at Melbourne-s Docklands Stadium on Tuesday, 11 June. Kick off is at 7pm AEST. Click here to buy tickets.

Finally, the Qantas Socceroos will host Iraq at Sydney-s Stadium Australia on Tuesday, 18 June. Kick off is at 7.30pm AEST. Click here to buy tickets.